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Barbarians
Barbarian and Savage are pejorative terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. Sometimes it is not pejorative, but simply a description of uncivilized, primitive and cruel person. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage. In idiomatic or figurative usage, a "barbarian" may also be an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, warlike, insensitive person.1 The notion of "barbarians" can be found throughout the world, in Western cultures, East Asian cultures, and the cultures of other civilizations. edit] Western culture Main article: Barbarians in Western culturesIn the West, "barbarian" comes from the Greek word Barbaroi meaning "anyone who is not Greek", and thus was often used to refer to other civilized people, such as the people of the Persian Empire. edit] Ancient Greece The Greeks used the term as they encountered scores of different foreign cultures, including the Egyptians, Persians, Medes, Celts, Germans, Phoenicians, Etruscans and Carthaginians. It, in fact, became a common term to refer to all foreigners. However in various occasions, the term was also used by Greeks, especially the Athenians, to deride other Greek tribes and states (such as Epirotes, Eleans, Macedonians and Aeolic-speakers) in a pejorative and politically motivated manner.2 Of course, the term also carried a cultural dimension to its dual meaning.34 The verb βαρβαρίζειν (barbarízein) in ancient Greek meant imitating the linguistic sounds non-Greeks made or making grammatical errors in Greek. Plato (Statesman 262de) rejected the Greek–barbarian dichotomy as a logical absurdity on just such grounds: dividing the world into Greeks and non-Greeks told one nothing about the second group. In Homer's works, the term appeared only once (Iliad 2.867), in the form βάρβαροΦώνος (barbarophonos) ("of incomprehensible speech"), used of the Carians fighting for Troy during the Trojan War. In general, the concept of barbaros did not figure largely in archaic literature before the 5th century BC.5 Still it has been suggested that "barbarophonoi" in the Iliad signifies not those who spoke a non-Greek language but simply those who spoke Greek badly.6 A change occurred in the connotations of the word after the Greco-Persian Wars in the first half of the 5th century BC. Here a hasty coalition of Greeks defeated the vast Achaemenid Empire. Indeed in the Greek of this period 'barbarian' is often used expressly to mean Persian.7 Out of those sources the Hellenic stereotype was elaborated: barbarians are like children, unable to speak or reason properly, cowardly, effeminate, luxurious, cruel, unable to control their appetites and desires, politically unable to govern themselves. These stereotypes were voiced with much shrillness by writers like Isocrates in the 4th century BC who called for a war of conquest against Persia as a panacea for Greek problems. Ironically, many of the former attributes were later ascribed to the Greeks, especially the Seleucid kingdom, by the Romans[citation needed]. However, the Hellenic stereotype of barbarians was not a universal feature of Hellenic culture. Xenophon, for example, wrote the Cyropaedia, a laudatory fictionalised account of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian empire, effectively a utopian text. In his Anabasis, Xenophon's accounts of the Persians and other non-Greeks he knew or encountered hardly seem to be under the sway of these stereotypes at all. edit] Arabic context The Berbers of North Africa were among the many peoples called "Barbarian" by the Romans; in their case, the name remained in use, having been adopted by the Arabs (see Berber (Etymology)) and is still in use as the name for the non-Arabs in North Africa (though not by themselves). The geographical term Barbary or Barbary Coast, and the name of the Barbary pirates based on that coast (and who were not necessarily Berbers) were also derived from it. The term has also been used to refer to people from Barbary, a region encompassing most of North Africa. The name of the region, Barbary, comes from the Arabic word Barbar, possibly from the Latin word barbaricum, meaning "land of the barbarians". edit] Early Modern period Further information: Viking revival, Noble savage, and PhilistinismItalians in the Renaissance often called anyone who lived outside of their country a barbarian. As far as the nomadic Goths went, they originally worshipped the same pantheon as did the Germanic/Norse barbarians, but because of their wanderings and their propensity for adopting the standards, beliefs, and practices of whatever culture within which they located, were the first barbarians to adopt Christianity as a faith (actually long before the Romans did). Spanish sea captain Francisco de Cuellar who sailed with the Spanish Armada in 1588 used the term 'savage' to describe the Irish people.8 edit] Modern academia A famous quote from anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss says: "The barbarian is the one who believes in barbary",9 a meaning like his metaphor in Race et histoire ("Race and history", UNESCO, 1952), that two cultures are like two different trains crossing each other: each one believes it has chosen the good direction. A broader analysis reveals that neither party "chooses" their direction, but that their "brutish" behaviors have formed out of necessity, being entirely dependent on and hooked to their surrounding geography and circumstances of birth. Although some terms in academia do go out of style, such as "Dark Ages", the term Barbarian is in full common currency among all mainstream medieval scholars and is not out of style or outdated, though a disclaimer is often felt to be needed, as when Ralph W. Mathisen prefaces a discussion of barbarian bishops in Late Antiquity, "It should also be noted that the word "barbarian" will be used here as a convenient, nonpejorative term to refer to all the non-Latin and non-Greek speaking exterae gentes who dwelt around, and even eventually settled within, the Roman Empire during late antiquity".10 The significance of barbarus in Late Antiquity has been specifically explored on several occasions.11 Examples of this modern usage can also be seen in the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, which has an article titled "Barbarians, the Invasions" and uses the term barbarian throughout its 13 volumes. A 2006 book by Yale historian Walter Goffart is called Barbarian Tides and uses barbarian throughout to refer to the larger pantheon of tribes that the Roman Empire encountered. Walter Pohl, a leading pan-European expert on ethnicity and Late Antiquity, published a 1997 book titled Kingdoms of the Empire: The Integration of Barbarians in Late Antiquity. The Encyclopædia Britannica and other general audience encyclopedias use the term barbarian throughout within the context of late antiquity. edit] Modern popular culture Modern popular culture contains such fantasy barbarians as Tarzan and Conan the Barbarian. In fantasy novels and role-playing games, barbarians or berserkers are often represented as lone warriors, very different from the vibrant cultures on which they are based. edit] East Asian cultures EnlargeFrom the Japanese Tokugawa period, a 1861 image expressing the Joi (攘夷, "Expel the Barbarians") sentiment.Main article: Barbarians in East Asian cultures edit] China The Chinese (Han Chinese) of the Chinese Empire sometimes (depends on the dynasty, geographic location, and timeline) initially regarded the Xiongnu, Qiang, Yue, Nanyue, Yuezhi, Tibetans, Tatars, Turks, Mongols, Jurchens, Manchus, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese (and later Europeans) as barbarians. However, as places such as Korean peninsula and Japan became sinicized by adopting Han culture, they were eventually regarded as a part of the 'cultured' Sinosphere. The Chinese used different terms for "barbarians" from different directions of the compass. Those in the east were called Dongyi (東夷), those in the west were called Xirong (西戎), those in the south were called Nanman (南蠻), and those in the north were called Beidi (北狄). However, despite the conventional translation of such terms (especially 夷) as "barbarian", in fact it is possible to translate them simply as 'outsider' or 'stranger', with far less offensive cultural connotations. edit] Japan The Japanese adopted the Chinese usage. When Europeans came to Japan, they were called nanban (南蛮), literally Barbarians from the South, because the Portuguese ships appeared to sail from the South. The Dutch, who arrived later, were also called either nanban or kōmō (紅毛), literally meaning "Red Hair." edit] Other civilizations Historically, the term barbarian has seen widespread use. Many peoples have dismissed alien cultures and even rival civilizations as barbarians because they were recognizably strange. The Greeks admired Scythians and Eastern Gauls as heroic individuals— even in the case of Anacharsis as philosophers—but considered their culture to be barbaric. The Romans indiscriminately regarded the various Germanic tribes, the settled Gauls, and the raiding Huns as barbarians. The Romans adapted the term to refer to anything non-Greco-Roman. The nomadic steppe peoples north of the Black Sea, including the Pechenegs and the Kipchaks, were called barbarians by Byzantines.12 The Hindus referred to all alien cultures in ancient times as 'Mlechcha' 13 or Barbarians. In the ancient texts, Mlechchas are people who are barbaric and who have given up the Vedic beliefs.1415 Among the tribes termed Mlechcha were Sakas, Hunas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, Bahlikas and Rishikas.14 In Mesoamerica the Aztec civilization used the word "Chichimeca" to denominate a group of nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes that lived in the outskirts of the Triple Alliance's Empire, in the North of Modern Mexico, which were seen for the Aztec people as primitive and uncivilized. One of the meanings attributed to the word "Chichimeca" is "dog people". The Incas used the term "puruma auca" for all peoples living outside the rule of their empire (see Promaucaes). Greek Historyhttp://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=1Edit The ancient Greeks considered other non-Greeks as Barbarians. They were nomadic and/or war-like savage big groups of people, who often sparred with Greece. Some well known non-Greek peoples located near ancient Greece included the Illyrians (Albania), Thracians (Bulgaria), Phrygians (Anatolia), Scythians (Black Sea area) and Persians (Middle East). In The God of War Series http://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=2Edit God of War http://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=3Edit Threat to Sparta http://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=4Edit In the east the Spartans observe a barbarian army form. Seeing the Barbarians as a threat, Kratos and his men went to fight and kill them. Kratos' men believed in their great captain and went to battle. The Battle http://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=5Edit The battle itself was less like a battle and more like a total massacre lasting only a few hours. Despite the Spartans great discipline and hard training in combat, they could not hold back the Barbarian Army. The Barbarians were merciless and savage, slaughtering the Spartans. Kratos and the Barbarian King faced off and the King was about to kill Kratos using his massive war hammer, but to Kratos victory was the most important thing and he called out to Ares, promising his soul and a life of service to the God of War if he destroyed his enemies. This then led to the events of Kratos' future. The Massacre of the Barbarians http://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=6Edit Ares accepted Kratos' soul and servitude in exchange for allowing victory to him and his men. He unleashed his godly power on the barbarians, slaughtering them by burning them alive along with killing them in other vicious and horrifying ways. He sent Harpies to give Kratos the Blades of Chaos, a pair of fiendish swords forged in the fires of Hades, Kratos then used them to decapitate the Barbarian King, ending the Barbarian threat. God of War IIhttp://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=7Edit However, Alrik would later return in God of War II, having escaped the Underworld, he sought after the Sisters of Fate to, like Kratos and other Greek Heroes on the island, change the outcome of his fate, and to gain revenge upon the Ghost of Sparta. Barbarian Mercenarieshttp://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=8Edit The Barbarian Mercenaries are the reanimated undead corpses of Barbarian soldiers. The Barbarian King summons them from the depths of Hades during his battle with Kratos. They wield rusted old swords, and come at Kratos, attacking him mindlessly. Kratos can quickly slay them by cutting off their legs, with his blades, followed by their head. Interestingly, one of the men the Barbarian King summons is the Boat Captain from God of War. Triviahttp://godofwar.wikia.com/index.php?title=Barbarians&action=edit&section=9Edit *Being "from the east" its possible (though not actually stated) that the Barbarians in God of War could have been Persians, Scythians or some other Asiatic group/nation. However, they most likely are not Persians, as they appeared in God of War: Chains of Olympus, and their appearance is nothing like the Barbarians in God of War. *Most likely, these barbarians are from the region of Thrace, northeast of Greece proper and a barbarian stronghold in the days of Greek myth. *The name of the Barbarian King, Alrik, appears to be Germanic, which suggests that they come from Central Europe, but this is inconsistent with Gaia's statement that they "came from the east." Category:Organizations